A History of Education for Nevada Homeschools
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School, Education, Homeschooling and Nevada Frank Schnorbus Nevada Homeschool Network, Chair March 25, 2010 1 Ecclesiastes 1:9 – 11 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our Fme. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. Proverbs 4:1 – 5 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. When I was a boy in my father’s house, still tender, and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. 2 Pinky: “Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?” The Brain: “The same thing we do every night, Pinky – try to take over the world!” ARE YOU PONDERING WHAT I’M PONDERING? Why do YOU educate your child? Who knows your child best? Where do parental rights fit in? Why can’t homeschoolers be leI alone? What does the word “educate” mean to you? Whose business is your child’s educaLon? Why should educaLng a child take a “professional”? What is the difference between educaLon and school? Why wouldn’t “professionals” appreciate homeschooling? What is the state’s interest in seeing that children are educated? When will homeschooling be “safe” from restricLve laws? Why do homeschoolers do beOer than other types of schools? What does the word “beOer” mean? Would it maOer if homeschoolers didn’t do beOer? What about parents who don’t educate their children? What did previous American generaLons do? Wasn’t school always the way it is today? Who is ulLmately responsible for your child’s educaLon? Will educaLon as we know it today ever change? Why is it important for homeschoolers to be vigilant? 3 (Courtesy of Dr. Brian Ray, NHERI) School: A place or EducaFon: The bringing organizaLon up and instrucLon of outside the home children and youth to where teachers enlighten their instruct, teach, or understanding, insLll their drill students in philosophy, develop their specific knowledge morals, form their or skills such as manners, correct their reading, language, tempers, give them mathemaLcs, and knowledge and train their arts and, allegedly, skills such as in reading, only secondarily in language, mathemaLcs, and manners, arts, and fit them for philosophy, and usefulness in their families, morals. associaLons, and communiLes. EducaLon comprehends all that series Homeschool cric of instrucLon and discipline Christopher Lubienski, which is intended to Assistant Professor accomplish the Iowa State University aforemenLoned. Recent structural reforms of educa6on highlight an emerging recognion of the difference between `public educa6on' and `public schools.' (2003) Cri6cal observers of homeschooling argue that those who pracce this form of educa6on are giving up on solving common problems and that social stra6fica6on is a consequence of their acons (Apple, 2000; Lubienski, 2000). Underlying these concerns are commitments to the common school, including shared goals and strengthening community. -Rebecca Jaycox, 2001, ERIC Digest (EducaLon Resources InformaLon 4 Center, US Dept of EducaLon) Let’s look at some roots of today’s educational system In America, pre Columbus, the family structure in most NaLve American tribes was subordinate to the community as a whole. CharacterisLcs of family life: * Frequent divorce * AdopLon of captured enemies into families * Communal responsibility for discipline of children * Discipline by praise & shame, not corporal punishment * Informal sharing and reciprocity * Boys learned fishing and hunLng * Girls learned sewing and farming In Europe, pre Columbus, there were relaLvely few opLons for basic schooling. * Parish schools to train boys to be future priests * Private tutors at home * LaLn schools for university study, clerical or legal career * Girls taught by tutors or nuns in a nearby convent King’s School, Canterbury Established 597 5 Prussia (Protestant, part of current day Germany) and Austria (Catholic) were the centers of social and educaLonal reform in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Forces changing educaLon in Europe in the early 1500s PrinLng Press Commerce and Trade ReformaLon MarLn Luther considered popular educaLon to be crucial to the success of the ReformaLon. “When schools flourish, all flourishes.” 6 In Germany, Protestant town councils transformed uLlitarian schools into centers of religious indoctrinaLon. Catholic princes followed suit, shocked by the rapid spread of ProtestanLsm. Schooling, however, did not equal literacy. Literacy rates in the mid 1700s were less than 10% in many places. WHY? Protestant leaders feared the spread of sectarianism, so lay Bible reading was restricted and controlled. Catholic leaders feared the spread of ProtestanLsm, so Bible truths needed mediaLon by church hierarchy. Because schools, above all, provided instrucLon in the arLcles of faith, both Protestants and Catholics relied on oral recitaLon, memorizaLon of catechisms, and music. Girl playing lute 1626 Jamestown was founded in 1607 by entrepreneurs from Virginia Company of London, aIer sailing across on three ships, the Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed. 7 Parental Response Winkelschulen (the “backstreet” or “corner” school) Literacy was acquired not because of parish and community schools, but in spite of them. Winkelschulen characterisLcs: * Not franchised by either church or municipal authoriLes * Strictly uLlitarian – 3Rs * Subordinated religious instrucLon to impartaLon of literacy * More cost effecLve * Narrow curricular focus * Were close to home * EducaLon for girls * Viewed as threatening source of compeLLon * Church distrusted neglect of religious instrucLon * SomeLmes served as havens for crypto-ProtestanLsm * Served poorer families, allowed children in families to work * Usually quite small (typically 4 or 5 families) with a tutor * Occasionally a school drew more pupils than its franchised neighbors * Evidence they served more pupils in total than franchised schools * Belonged to the “educaLonal underground” * Led shadowy and elusive existences * Were outlawed in most communiLes * Were wildly popular * Served an unmet need * Were silently tolerated 8 Religious tensions, internal poli6cs and the balance of power finally exploded into a world war known as the 30 Years’ War from 1618 to 1648, one of the most destrucve conflicts in European history. Interest in popular schooling waned significantly. Extensive areas of Germany lay ravaged by war. Orphans, widows, and vagabonds roamed its ci6es and towns. Devout Lutherans like Duke Ernst the Pious a`ributed the war to divine punishment for spiritual disobedience and corrup6on. In 1620, near the beginning of the 30 Years War, a group of English immigrants leI Holland on the Mayflower to escape religious persecuLon. In 1636 the colonial MassachuseOs legislature founded Harvard University, and in 1647 passed the “Old Deluder Satan” school law. 9 PieLsm ReformaLon within a ReformaLon It is difficult to overesLmate PieLsm’s impact; PieLsm, with humble beginnings in 1670, proved to be the most powerful force behind the movement for compulsory schooling in 18th century Europe. Prussia later served as an example to governments around the world on how to establish and run compulsory educaLonal systems. Influences on Spener: The PracLce of Piety By Lewis Bayley WriOen in 1611 DirecLng a ChrisLan How to Walk, that He May Please God Jean de Labadie 1610 – 1674 French ex-Jesuit Philipp Jacob Spener 1635 - 1705 turned fiery Calvinist minister William Penn paid a visit to Spener and his group in 1674. 10 CharacterisLcs of PieLsm: * True ChrisLans fulfill their obligaLons voluntarily through convicLon, not mechanically through coercion * Generally condemned sensual display; dancing, the stage, opera, fesLvals * Social acLvists – faith verified through acLon * Even doing his best works, man is sinful to his very core * Grace available to all through repentance and conversion * ObligaLon to help others seek salvaLon for themselves * Accepted the hierarchical social order as divinely ordained, including ones own posiLon in society through an acceptance of God’s grace and a trust in providence; social inequality is both necessary and proper * Religious toleraLon * A genuine knowledge of Christ can only be obtained by reading Scriptures; the laity must be able to read the Bible August Hermann Francke A PieLst and Lutheran pastor, Francke became (1663 – 1727) convinced that educaLon was the only anLdote to society’s moral depravity. His school, founded in 1695 in Halle, soon gained a reputaLon for piety and orderliness. Halle, Prussia (Germany) “We are not to be saLsfied if the child exhibits an outer show of piety but at heart remains unchanged…. The purely external, no maOer how fair its appearance, cannot stand before the omniscient eye of God without the power of Christ in one’s heart.” August Hermann Francke 11 Under August Francke’s leadership and influence several teacher training insLtutes, and hundreds of schools, were founded. Francke’s schools: Outward obedience to authority, like outward piety, was insufficient A strong work ethic Hourglasses in every classroom Even “free” recess Lme was scheduled Pupils exhorted to work “not out of coercion, but a love of God.” Discipline